Alice Ford News

Portland Opera has announced that renowned artists Karen Slack and Damien Geter have joined the company as Artistic Advisors. Slack and Geter will work with General Director Sue Dixon, and interim Artistic Director Daniel Biaggi, on expanded repertoire, casting, public programming, and community engagement.

The Show Must Go Online today announced the full cast for their upcoming livestreamed reading of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Long Beach Opera is bringing back its popular and relevant series of Community Conversations June 14, 21, and 28 that were inspired by the LBO world premiere production of  The Central Park Five, which recently won the Pulitzer prize.  These Conversations are available on facebooklive and archived following at www.longbeachopera.org.

Luckily for viewers on the Metropolitan Opera's “Met on Demand”—with selections available free in this time of COVID-19, on your laptop or as apps for your phone or tablet—there were a couple of knee-slappers thrown in among the drama of AIDA, PARSIFAL and ROMEO ET JULIETTE this week. Two of my favorites were there: Donizetti's DON PASQUALE and Verdi's FALSTAFF.

San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 season continues with a special one-night-only event on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM when soprano Ailyn Pérez and tenor Joshua Guerrero perform in concert at the Balboa Theatre. They will be accompanied by pianist Abdiel Vázquez. Ailyn Pérez is no stranger to San Diego Opera, having made her Company debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 2010, returning to sing Marguerite in Faust in 2011, and in recital in 2014. In demand at all the major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, and Opéra National de Paris, Ms. Pérez is the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, the 15th annual Plácido Domingo Award, and the 14th annual Opera News Award. 

San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 season continues with a special one-night-only event on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM when soprano Ailyn Pérez and tenor Joshua Guerrero perform in concert at the Balboa Theatre.

The cast includes Martin Jason Asprey (Mr. Frank Ford), Steven Barkhimer (George Page), Gregory Boover (Master Fenton), MaConnia Chesser (Meg Page), Jordan Cobb (Anne Page), Tobias Goodman (Pistol/Simple), Nigel Gore (Sir John Falstaff), Cloteal L. Horne (Mistress Quickly), Jennie M. Jadow (Alice Ford), Madeleine Rose Maggio (Robert Shallow), Bella Merlin (Sir Hugh Evans), and Mary Shalaby (Nym/Rugby). Many of whom we recently enjoyed in the Shakespeare & Company production of Twelfth Night. The troupe is outstanding. Steven Barhimer, Gregory Boover, MaConnia Chesser, Jordan Cobb, Jennie M. Jadow are so at-ease and comfortable in their roles and make the audience feel likewise. Tobias Goodman and Mary Shalaby are especially noteworthy and accomplished particularly given that they are the youngest in the ensemble but keep pace and level with both more seasoned and professional members of the cast. Madeleine Rose Maggio and Bella Merlin both take on roles of the opposite gender with confidence and convection and both make it work well. Cloteal L. Horne is sassy and soulful providing enough attitude to keep things real and some surprise vocals that are impressive as well. Nigel Gore and Martin Jason Asprey seem to have been born to do Shakespeare. Both have well-developed sense of comedic timing. Asprey's banter directly with the audience delights and earns spontaneous mid-scene applause multiple times.

For Hudson Warehouse's 16th Season, they presenting a very unique adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor. This production is set in the 1960's at The Windsor Resort, a tourist hotel in the Borscht Belt of the Catskills.

 Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare's madcap comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by founding company member and Director of Education, Kevin G. Coleman.

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino brings Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor close to home with a joyous production set in a small town not unlike Stratford, Ontario, in 1953, the year the Festival began.

The McCammon Voice Competition in collaboration with Fort Worth Opera is pleased to present Angela Meade in recital on Monday, May 6 at 7:00 pm at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Auditorium. This intimate concert marks the eagerly-anticipated return of this world-renowned soprano to Fort Worth after winning first prize in the 2005 McCammon Voice Competition. Ms. Meade will be accompanied on piano by Fort Worth Opera Artistic Director and Conductor, Joe Illick. The evening's diverse program will consist of celebrated arias and art songs by Bellini, Meyerbeer, Korngold, and Strauss.

Will anyone else but Ambrogio Maestri bring the same dynamism to Robert Carsen's 1950's take on Verdi's masterpiece, FALSTAFF? Time will tell. But the return of the wonderful production, with the great Met orchestra under conductor Richard Farnes and an all-around terrific cast, brought a little sunshine into the gray winter in New York.

Baritone Ambrogio Maestri brings his larger-than-life portrayal of the title role back for the first time since his Met role debut in the 2013-14 season. Robert Carsen's insightful production-which moves the action to postwar England in the 1950s-features an exceptional cast that includes soprano Ailyn Perez as Alice Ford and soprano Golda Schultz as Nannetta.

Baritone Ambrogio Maestri brings his larger-than-life portrayal of the title role back for the first time since his Met role debut in the 2013-14 season. Robert Carsen's insightful production-which moves the action to postwar England in the 1950s-features an exceptional cast that includes soprano Ailyn Pérez as Alice Ford and soprano Golda Schultz as Nannetta.

Falstaff, Verdi's exuberant final opera, returns to the Met for performances February 22-March 16, 2019. Robert Carsen's acclaimed production moves the action from Shakespeare's era to 1950s England. Fresh off his much-lauded performance as Michonnet in the Met's Adriana Lecouvreur, Ambrogio Maestri stars as the notorious glutton Falstaff, reprising his celebrated betrayal in this production's premiere run in the 2013-14 season. The ensemble cast of merry wives and noblemen also includes Ailyn Perez as Alice Ford, Golda Schultz as Nannetta, Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Mistress Quickly, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Meg Page, Francesco Demuro as Fenton, and Juan Jesus Rodriguez as Ford. Conductor Richard Farnes, the former longtime music director of Opera North, makes his Met debut on the podium.

Daniele Rustioni, 35, Principal Conductor of the Opera National de Lyon, will make his American orchestral conducting debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, January 31-February 2, 2019. Rustioni will lead the orchestra in performances of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3, Respighi's Fontane di Roma, and Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with soloist Julian Steckel. Later in the season, Rustioni will conduct a new production of Tchaikovsky's rarely-performed The Enchantress for Opera National de Lyon, make his debut at the Teatro Real Madrid with Verdi's Falstaff, lead the Orchestra della Toscana in a three-city tour of Italy, and return to conduct the Staatsorchester Stuttgart.

Daniele Rustioni, 35, Principal Conductor of the Opera National de Lyon, will make his American orchestral conducting debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, January 31-February 2, 2019. Rustioni will lead the orchestra in performances of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3, Respighi's Fontane di Roma, and Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with soloist Julian Steckel. Later in the season, Rustioni will conduct a new production of Tchaikovsky's rarely-performed The Enchantress for Opera National de Lyon, make his debut at the Teatro Real Madrid with Verdi's Falstaff, lead the Orchestra della Toscana in a three-city tour of Italy, and return to conduct the Staatsorchester Stuttgart.

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) Winter Season: The Actors' Renaissance began previews this past weekend of The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Part 1.

A deal with the devil is struck with powerful results in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, with performances November 8 to December 1, 2018. Starring in the diabolical title role is 2018 Richard Tucker Award winner Christian Van Horn, who joins recent Tucker Award winners Angela Meade as the love interest Margherita and Michael Fabiano as the bargain-making Faust. Rounding out the cast is Jennifer Check as Helen of Troy. Not seen on the Met stage in nearly 20 years, Robert Carsen's production is conducted by Carlo Rizzi and Joseph Colaneri.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series continues -Placido Domingo with soprano Ailyn Perez on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30pm.  Eugene Kohn conducts the orchestra.